


Me, You, and Our Oblivious Engagements

by TempusNoKitsune



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Charles Always Says the Absolute Worst Thing He Could Possibly Say, Charles Being Concerned, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles-centric, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Erik Has Feelings, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, Erik is a Sweetheart, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, M/M, Poor Charles, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 09:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12981063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempusNoKitsune/pseuds/TempusNoKitsune
Summary: Erik and Charles meet each other in high school and seem to start off as tentative friends, but this all changes once a rivalry sparks due to their academic achievements and standings. How long will they really remain enemies? What will happen when they go off to college?





	Me, You, and Our Oblivious Engagements

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bettysofia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettysofia/gifts).



> A present for bettysofia as part of the Secret Mutant Exchange.  
> I hope that you like it, though it may not be exactly what you were expecting!
> 
> \--  
> PROMPT:  
> Modern AU. Enemies to Lovers.

PROLOGUE AND FRESHMAN YEAR

Charles Xavier is easily the smartest boy at his school. Honestly, his mental capacity is so far above those of his peers and that of the coursework available within the establishment, that he really ought to be in college already. It’s his deep attachment to his sister, and his mother's insistence that the social aspects will do him well later in life (read: politically), that keep him where he is. The school is a small private affair, something that’s been paid for with ridiculously old money, and thrives upon the easy funding of its students parents. There are a few students that attend the school on scholarships due to their excess funds, but such spots are highly competitive and terribly difficult to obtain, being reserved for the smartest and most qualified contenders.

  
This is where Erik Lehnsherr comes in. Arguably the second smartest boy in the school, constantly vying for the number one spot, and only missing by mere millimeters due to complications with his nationality and those God awful English classes. Erik himself could very well skip on to college level classes if it weren't for their excessive cost and citizenship based qualifications.  
Being ranked as both smartest and second smartest in their junior high of course means that the two boys are almost constantly butting heads. Their rivalry even passes the level of infamous as their accomplishments even go as far as to get into the local newspaper, colleges and universities clamoring for their future attendance. Such a rivalry would be intense enough it was only restricted to academics, however Charles and Erik also happened to disagree fundamentally on many other things, resulting in heated moral debated that started as quiet arguments and ended as shouting matches.

  
Despite their apparent dislike for one another, when it came down to it, Charles and Erik found themselves spending more time with one another than anyone else, as any excess time outside of arguments and debates is swallowed by studies. Raven is the first one to point this out around the end of their freshman year just before they part ways after a particularly heated debate over LGBTQ+ rights. It’s enough to give the two boys pause, turning disgusted look on one another before curtly turning and separating.

  
Thus begins the ongoing tale of the X-Men and the Brotherhood.

 

* * *

  
SOPHOMORE YEAR

  
Charles had been preparing for sophomore year for a little over a month now. Well, at least officially preparing. Of course he’d spent the majority of summer at the Duke TIP camp, affectionately referred to by its students as “nerd camp”. However, only as of a couple of weeks ago had he started collecting the relevant supplies, getting his textbooks far enough ahead of time that he had the opportunity to read over them before classes began.

  
When Charles had started high school he had anticipated working hard, especially with his pension for perfectionism, but he never could have anticipated the rivalry that had sprung up within the last few weeks of freshman year. Charles had never really felt disinclined towards Erik, in fact, he found himself actually rather liking the boy up until that point. He’d never met anyone so willing and ready to debate with him at such a high level as Erik did, and in such a multitude of subjects!

  
Now though, they’d likely not be debating nearly as much. No, with such an actively determined opponent as Erik Lehnsherr, Charles would need to tuck into his studies with a renewed vigor. Something that, though daunting and unwelcoming to many of his peers, he rather looked forward to in everything aside from the arts in which he was left somewhat…lacking. That was more Raven’s area.

  
The first day could not come early enough, not now that he was out of camp and the anticipatory tension was doing it’s best to drown him in it’s aggressive waves. Raven is decidedly less enthusiastic about school coming once again, but she'll get over it quickly enough once she sees all of her friends and gets involved in some clubs. Until then she visits Charles’s house daily, only a 20 minute walk away from her home making easy access to her childhood friend.

  
She drapes herself over Charles's bed as he arranges and intricately organizes his supplies. Her hair trickles like honey off the edge of the bed, and her long limbs stretch out a bit awkwardly still on the disproportionate size for her body, though they’d no doubt turn elegant with age. He pads back and forth, having forgone his socks long ago after looking at the discolored and worn bottoms.

  
Charles’s own limbs are rather short and scrawny, much like the rest of him. His shoulders, however are just beginning to broaden which he hopes will prove to be promising. No matter, Raven’s voice continues to drone on shrilly, and Charles nods and hums at appropriate turns, only really giving half of his attentions to her baseless concerns.

  
“Charles, you’re not even listening to me.”

  
“Mhm.”

  
“Charles!”

  
He startles a bit, feet skipping a bit over one another and against the wood floor as he turns to look at her, blinking owlishly as the tops of his cheeks tinge pink.

  
“There’s still a week before school starts, what’s the point in doing all of that so soon.”

  
He give a little cough and tugs at the bottom of his shirt.

  
“It’s never too early to be prepared Raven.”

  
The girl lets out a huff, flopping heavily down onto her back from the slightly propped up position that she had taken to confront him. The bed protests a bit, squeaking and bouncing tiredly.

  
“I’m sorry,” He says honestly, stepping over to sprawled out on the bed with her. “I was sort of listening to you, there’s just so much to do before the year begins.”

  
Her lightly tanned arm comes up between them, elbow pressing not the duvet, and he smiles copying the motion and linking their arms. They move their arms slightly, moving in a back and forth motion that has their hands hitting against one another in an idle way that they’ve found both calms and comforts them since one fateful secret sleepover at the end of 4th grade.

  
“Do you think Erik’s going to beat you?” She asks quietly.

  
He doesn’t correct her in saying that there’s no real way to “win”, he figures that it wouldn’t matter much if he did. After all, it did almost feel like in the end it would be win or lose. Winner or first loser.

  
“We’ll see…” Is what he says instead.

 

…

 

  
Charles breathes in heavily before stepping through the front double doors, backpack weighing heavily on his back as Raven runs forward towards the small group of friends that she had amassed the year earlier, leaving him to find his own way to his classes. He’s thankful that he’s at least semi familiar with the layout of the school. Of course he knows his way around generally, but the classroom numbers are on the lesser side of efficiently organized.

  
He wanders for a bit, only getting slightly jostled by the other kids as they pass uncaringly by him. Blue eyes shift up and down, taking in each room number before looking back down to the paper in his hands. Class number one is Honours Chemistry, and’s he’s yet to come upon the correct room despite I got already passed the four lab rooms that he’s familiar with. There’s no need to panic though, the school is large and there’s plenty more rooms to look in.

  
In the end it takes almost half an hour, and a trip around the other side of the school. He’s a bit frazzled when he walks in, anxiety already raging. Despite the terribly long trip, Charles had accounted for a possible difficulty in finding rooms and still found the room to be more than a third empty by the time he walks through the door, his usual preferred spots in the front left wide open...all except for one.

  
Of course his first class of the first day of sophomore year had to include one Erik Lehnsherr. The boy was leaning lazily backwards, his long legs pushed out in front of him and arms tucked in at his sides as he reads from a book with what looks like cyrillic writing on the front. Charles has near frozen on the spot, halfway in between the door and the front row of lab tables.

  
No one really seems to have noticed yet save for a couple of girls in the back who are looking at him a bit strangely in between speaking with one another. His brain is telling him to move forward, take a seat, and get ready for class, but his instincts are screaming at him to drop everything and run. It’s not that he’s afraid of Erik, or even of a challenge. No, this is more a social anxiety mixed with interaction based inabilities. He shakes himself once, twice, and finally a third time, with a voice in his head that sounds an awful lot like Raven telling him to suck it up and sit down.

  
He staggers forward a couple of steps, backpack making him teeter back a bit as his body complains at the weight. He takes the seat furthest away from Erik, slings his backpack off and onto the floor next to his stool, and proceeds to unpack the necessary supplies from his bag. The teacher appears just as the bell rings, and starts off the class with roll call not that long after. The last eventful thing before finals is that year happens the moment his name is called (last as usual), and Erik’s head snaps up and towards his confident, “Here.”

  
Their eyes lock and they sit silently as the class starts up, just looking at one another. When Charles thinks back on that moment he realizes that there was no challenge, and no contempt there at all. There was a bit of surprise on Erik’s part, but aside from that it was...just a moment between them, the last moment they would have for years that wasn’t filled with palpable tension.

 

 

…

 

 

To be fair Sophomore year wasn’t at all challenging, as far as he was concerned. There’s nothing really interesting that happens, besides the usual sort of high-school based drama. He and Erik, as far as he is concerned, have remained neck and neck in academics. However, they’ve done little more than stare at one another over tables and heads and shoulders, but all it took was one argument (over a case of cheating on homework which never happened) for the whole school to become aware of their budding rivalry.

  
Charles had never intended to really be known throughout the school. The kids who cared, or who enjoyed making fun, knew that he was smart. This was completely different from being known by every face he passes as “shark meat”. The kids began taking sides with either one of them, something that both flustered and slightly frustrated him, up until the point at which it began to actually make him friends.

  
A couple of boys in his grade, Darwin and Alex, invited him to eat lunch with him. A boy in his math class, Sean, came to him for help and consequently began to join their small lunch group. They were later joined by Moira from English, and Angel from Health. He even met a boy, Hank, in Chemistry during their first partner-based lab. It was the most friends that he had ever had, all kids that had initially taken in interest in him due to his role as one half of an academic rivalry. A cursory glance across the cafeteria is enough to tell him that the same seems to have happened for Erik.

  
It’s not long after he notices this that it’s nearing on finals week. Their table is crowded with a plethora of different texts books, papers, pencils, pens, highlighters, papers and computers. There’s low level chatter, but they’re rather independently focused, at least until Raven slides in on the end of the table next to Angel (and he’s really terribly thankful that she gets along so well with all of his new friends).

  
“Guys! Guys!” She exclaims, startling several heads up and in her direction. “I was thinking, and you know, it would all be so much cooler if we had a name or something.”

  
Charles blinked at her before looking back down at his English notes and continuing to transcribe annotations and definitions.  
“What do you mean?” He asks with half a mind of interest. There are echoing noises of confusing and interest both from the others.

  
“Like,” She goes silent for a moment before there’s the glossy warping sound of something like a magazine being held up before a comic book flops onto the center of the table. It’s all brilliantly vibrant colours and strong lines. “Superheroes you know? Erik and his friends are the villains, and we’re the heroes. So, we ought to have a name, think of how cool we’d be!”  
Much to his surprise the overall consensus is a positive from the group, only himself Moira, and Hank seem to be indifferent or find the whole thing a bit silly while the others are enthusiastic.

  
Sean is practically bouncing. “I’ve always wanted to be a superhero, you know? I used to jump out of my bedroom and into the bushes to see if I could fly!”

  
Alex simply shrugged, saying, “It could be cool.”

  
Darwin and Angel mostly just sat smiling, seeming more amused than anything, but not being opposed to the idea.

  
“I have a great name too, okay, you’re gonna love this.” Raven’s beaming, her teeth smiling through her opened mouth smile. “We’ll be called, the X-Men.”

  
The vote is unanimous, much to Charles’s complete horror.

 

 

…

 

 

Finals go well overall, and he ends the year with all A’s. So, of course does Erik, and the whole school clambers to see just who did better at what. Charles feels rather good with his outstanding scores in Chemistry, Mathematics, and English, while Erik has beat him out in World History, Languages, and the Fine Arts.

  
On their last day, as they’re signing yearbooks, Charles is sitting in a circle with his friends. Tons of yearbooks are going around, some those of his friends- in which he takes care to write something meaningful - and of people that he hardly even knows. In the end he shouldn’t really be surprised that his yearbook comes back with unfamiliar signatures all surrounding one with large, thick, letters scrawled over them all: “The Brotherhood”. The name in the middle is neatly written, along with a short and neat sentence.

  
See you next year, Charles.  
-Erik Lehnsherr

 

* * *

 

 

JUNIOR YEAR

  
From the very first day it was abundantly clear that Junior year was to be very different from all preceding years. All of Charles’s classes start with AP, and every syllabus is no shorter than ten pages. However, this is not what made Charles frustrated or anxious, no that would be due to the very large presence of “The Brotherhood”. Erik’s group came into the year with a bang, very clearly excluding or including people, and being loud and proud about what they agreed with and aggressively against whatever they disagreed with.

  
Within the first month Charles had found himself sucked into a particularly involved debate the entire group, mostly centered around Erik though the other members didn’t hesitate to give him a piece of their minds at any time or in any place. He’d go almost as far as saying that they would verbally harass him. It was exponentially more difficult to focus on his work, which his paranoid mind claimed was purposeful, though he wasn’t sure if Erik was quite that viscous.

  
History class was an awful mixture of raised voices and differing opinions, clubs were over run with the Brotherhood, and no one really did anything about it besides him and his “X-Men”, due to either a feeling of fear, wariness, or something else altogether.

  
On the up side of it all he gets to know his friends better, taking to locking themselves into empty rooms during lunch and before and after school, or spending time over at each other's houses sometimes under the guise of a party that’s a lot more chocolate than alcohol. He and Hank become particularly close at this time, getting special permissions for the use of the labs at the public college near the school, a place where they actually spend a such a large amount of their time that they sometimes find themselves leaving only at 7 the next morning.

  
Due to his proximity to Hank and their experiments in tinkering his grades in mathematics and science breach near perfect, his test lowering the curve and making him quite unpopular. Erik is in both of these classes, and the return of papers is always a sore spot, most especially because he seems to get higher grades, warranting an array of dirty looks and vehement arguments.

 

…

 

 

The first semester goes by terribly quickly, but it’s during Winter break that he finds out about his sister’s unfortunate case of serial dating. At first he’s upset, more that he didn’t know than the fact that she was dating. He might have been her (loving, caring, and completely reasonably) protective brother, but he wasn’t going to keep her from dating, he just wanted to know about it at the very least. After all, when he asks Moira out the next week he tells her three days before and every subsequent hour after he decides to do so, up until the very point that he stops saying it to empty air and actual ally asks the girl himself.  
He, Raven, Moira, and whatever boy Raven has set her sights on at the time, start going on double dates before and after Christmas, though they save those few special days around the holiday itself just for them like always. The sit on the feather couch in front of the fire, bundled up under a wool blanket with mint sticks and hot cocoa as they lean into one another.  
In those moments Charles can pretend that Raven in his sibling rather than Cain, and that he had a family member that actually cared about him. They snuggle together and share the things that they hadn’t during the year, a greater list of things now that their group of friends has expanded on both sides.

  
“I didn’t think you were straight, you know…” Raven comes out with at some time for apparently no reason.  
Charles looks at her for a second, a sort of shock running through him. To be honest, he’d never really thought very much about his sexuality, only really thinking to ask Moira out after spending more than a year having lunch with her. So, he just gives her a small shrug.

  
“I don’t know if I am, I just...like Moira...I think.”

  
She snorts. “You think?”

  
“Well, do you really like all of those boys that you go out with?” He counters.

  
She’s just quiet for a moment before smacking his shoulder and laughing, and that’s the end of that conversation.  
Christmas itself is not all that eventful, though it is one of the few days of the year that he’s required to spend with his…”family”. Kurt is back from his business trip, Cain is forced to stay at home until the next day, and his mother gives up whatever bottle she’s drinking dry until 6am the next day. Charles would give anything for that bottle when he wakes up sore and mottled in blue and purple with little bits of blood crusted over his skin.

 

 

…

 

 

Junior year is also the year that Charles learned the limit to which he can be pushed before blowing up. For all that the first semester went by quickly, the second semester seemed to go on until he was too strung out to properly function. The tensions are terribly high as these are the grades that will be going to their perspective colleges, and the transcripts that will pin he and Erik against one another once and for all, as Junior year offered the ability for the highest possible GPA at their school.

  
It’s three days before their final GPA’s come out when it happens. They’ve very nearly finished all of their finals when the issue of people's rights in relation to their race, religion, sextuality, etc… Charles doesn’t start out as part of the conversation, in fact, it’s likely just coincidence that he overhears anything at all. He had a free period after his latest exam and had been sitting on his own in the library, studying for his next exam, when his stomach complained rather loudly that it would like some food.

  
There were vending machines by the backstairs, the ones over by the exit to the parking lot. It was a somewhat popular hangout area as the ledges on the building and the walls had enough of an overhang to act as a seating area. Usually he wouldn’t mind this at all, the voices or shenanigans being little more than background noise and movements. He already has his package of pop tarts by the time he actually registers the words being said by the voices filling the area.

  
“We deserve better than this, we’re superior to them.” That’s Erik’s voice, strong and confident.

  
“They don’t deserve what they have-”

  
Charles stumbles as he listens, staggering to a stop as he eavesdrops some more. They go on about how much better they are, how much they deserve, and how entitled and terrible the others are. He feels his blood begin to boil, heat spreading storm his cheeks down his neck. He imagines bolting his feet to the down, weighing a thousand pounds, and being frozen to the spot, but it’s not enough to keep him from storming out there.

  
He fully intends to keep it simply to a heated argument, bursting through the exit and beginning the debate right away. Little did he know that his passion that all people deserve the same amount of care, and life, and liberty, was rivaled perfectly by Erik’s passion for the reverse. They end up standing toe to toe, speaking hotly right at one another’s face. All it takes is one sentence to push him too far.

  
“Just because you’re different from them doesn’t mean we can't coexist!”

  
“You’re wrong, we can’t ever coexist because those monsters have to die!”

  
It’s like an explosion. He’s hit full blast, vision going all white, and he honestly doesn’t remember a thing. The next thing that he knows he’s sitting in raven’s car on the way home, just narrowly avoiding being suspended due to the proximity to the end of the year and his otherwise clean record. He slumps down in his seat.

  
Regardless of whoever has the best grades at the the end of this school year, he can’t help but feel that somehow Erik has won.

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
SENIOR YEAR

  
Charles still continues to take high level classes despite the fact that the majority of the school considers the academic part of his and Erik’s rivalry to be done with. For him it was never really about the competition, in fact, he finds himself enjoying the work and education so much more without the added pressure as it seems that he’s one of the very few kids in the school who is still up for a challenge. He sees very little of Erik their last year of high school, though not for a lack of trying to avoid him. Charles could very well write a book on exactly how to avoid one Erik Lensherr.

  
He spends as much time as possible with his friends, most especially as they talk about the college’s that they’re applying to and the fact that they’re going to be splitting up soon. Raven comes over to his house every day, spending the night more often than not, especially as the end of the first semester comes closer. They sit opposite one another and work on their College applications, sometimes looking up only for their eyes to become red and puffy.

  
Charles breaks up with Moira even before their first kiss. She’s terribly gracious about it, and for a moment he wonders if perhaps they’d never really been dating at all. He decides to try not and overthink it and settles for a promise that they’ll keep in touch no matter where they end up.

  
He ends up applying to 6 schools, though he’s really only interested in three of them. The rest of the year is spent anxiously awaiting mail from those three, Harvard, Columbia, and Oxford. His grades stay strong, and his relationships too.

  
Christmas is the same is always, though this time he goes back to school with his wrist in a small blue cast which he tries his best to hide under a jacket though a few people still seem to notice it. Raven draws all over the cast, and their whole group of friends signs it, names circling around a large, block letter, X-Men. He almost tears up when it gets taken off.

  
He gets accepted into all 6 colleges, and ends up deciding on doing his undergrad at Columbia.

  
Walking across the stage and getting his diploma is a somewhat surreal experience, and though he doesn't feel all that much different from the beginning of the year there is an almost palpable shift in who he is at that moment.

  
That summer is the summer of the X-Men. They spend as much time as possible together, going on international trips, road trips, watching movies, playing games, and anything and everything that they can do to be together as long as possible. They go out with a bang and a powerful last hurrah as they set of fireworks, drink awful amounts of sugary drinks, and eat until they can’t move.

  
It’s still one of the hardest things to do to say goodbye.

  
Charles doesn't realize until later that it’s been a whole year since he and Erik have talked, and that he doesn’t know about the other boy’s grades, or even what college he was planning to go to.

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
FRESHMAN YEAR - S1 : COLUMBIA

  
Leaving home is something of a blessing. Of course it's nice to be away from what’s left of his family, and to get out of that all-too-big house. Though there is a bit of a bittersweet aspect with the parting from his friends, most especially Raven. They put together a schedule though, for phone calls and video calls, and she even gave him a little photo of the two of them together, embracing happily in the snow. That picture sits as one of his only personalizations in his dorm room, front and center on the little wooden desk placed off to the side of the end of the extra long twin bed.

  
The dorm rooms are small, but functional enough, he wasn’t expecting much more for freshman housing. The other bed is still unadorned, laying empty off to the side of the room nearest the door, and fathers from the small en suite which was easily no larger than 5 x 5.

  
Charles flopped back on his bed, letting out a loud huff of air and staring at the ceiling, taking it all in. He’d already been sleeping in the room for just under a week now, and his schedule was finalized though his roommate was still MIA. He let out a small laugh, smiling to himself as he rolled off the bed and onto his feet. Tomorrow would be the first day of classes, and he was determined to spend the rest of the day exploring the areas around his classes and dorm as much as possible.  
It’s nearly midnight by the time he gets back to the dorm, having facetimed Raven out at a cafe over by the Sciences buildings. He’s rather surprised to find the door to his room deadbolted open, and finds himself overcome by an almost childish sense of paranoia until he sees the plethora of boxes and bags sitting by the now made up bed in the room, though the roommate who put those things there wa still nowhere to be seen. After allowing himself to calm down from the initial shock he showers and pulls on a t-shirt and sweats before climbing into bed. Part of him thinks that he ought to stay up and try to need his elusive room mate, while the other part wins over with it’s argument that he really ought to sleep so that he can wake up for his 7 am class.

 

…

 

 

Charles barely had time to register the lump in the bed by the door when he sleepily hurried out to catch the bus to his first class. Thinking back on it after the rather uninteresting -and frankly uninformative considering he felt as though he’d learned the majority of what was being taught during his years in high school- lecture, he felt a surge of nervousness as he walked back from the bus stop. Though, to be honest, he’s not all that surprised when he walks into the room only to see the bed beside the door already neatly made up. He shrugs and let’s out a breath that he didn’t know that he was holding, and gets ready for his next class, heir fly wondering if his roommate actually means to avoid him. It’s when he gets back from his last class, around 8 when he stops dead in his class, the door falling shut behind him.

  
Standing there, in his room, back towards the door and a phone in his hand, is none other than one Erik Lehnsherr. He’s much taller and broader than Charles's remembers, and his hair has been cut shorter, not to mention that his voice has taken on a rich baritone rather than the lighter, higher pitch that he had been used to in high school. It seems that Erik had grown up during senior year and Charles hadn’t even noticed.

  
His legs were like led, and though his body screamed at him to run back out the door he couldn’t do anything more than stand right where he was.

  
“Ja, Mama. Alles geht gut. Ja. Ich werde bald mit dir reden. Auf Wiedersehen, ich liebe dich.” It’s German, Erik’s mother tongue, and Charles thinks to himself for a moment that not only does Erik look good, but he sounds good as well.

  
There’s a sort of feeling stirring in his chest, uncomfortable, but not bad. He started curling forward on himself, as though hunching over would make the feeling in his chest go away. He could feel his throat threatening to close up, a heat rising to the tops of his cheeks, and the Erik turned around and they were both frozen, staring at one another.

  
It was like all of the air was suctioned out of the room. He could have sworn that the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees, all of the heat flooding into his chest and up. If he could shrink any more than he already had he would, but given the fact that that would include actually dropping to the floor and crawling up in fetal position -something becoming increasingly attractive as the seconds passed by in their tense stalemate.

  
“Charles?”

  
Charles fervently wishes that he couldn't say that he didn’t squeak when Erik said his name, but then he would be lying, something that he tries not to do.

  
“I-” His voice cracked, cheeks heating even more as he coughs. “Hello, Erik.”

  
And of course, being who he is, he has to make everything worse with his big mouth.

  
“Fancy meeting you here.”

  
If he could gracefully bash his head open on the door behind him, he would. As it stands, he’s still so frozen in place that talking is taking a formidable amount of effort. Erik, however, shifts on his feet, keeping eye contact as though they’re having some sort of predatorial showdown.

  
“You...look good.” Is what comes of of the others mouth, which is both surprising and alarming.

  
Charles bites his tongue before he actually says, “Do I? Why thank you, you don’t look too bad yourself”, out loud. Flirting is not on the menu right now, no matter how attractive Erik had become. Instead he stays horribly, awkwardly silent.

  
“I didn’t know you were…” Erik started before his eyes slowly drag over to the picture on his desk, now clearly faced in their direction, his own face smiling brightly at him in betrayal.

  
“Your roommate?” He finishes for him smartly, wincing at the sound of his own voice as he forces himself to stand up straight. “I apologize for the surprise.” H finishes softly.

  
Erik shakes his head, but aside from moving in their places they haven’t made to actually breech the still sort of tension between them. Charles took in a deep breath and stepped forward, holding out his hand. With nearly a year between the time in which Erik was legitimately acting as his rival, Charles hasn’t failed to see the utter stupidity of the rivalry as a whole, he’d be silly to bring it into college as such.

  
It’s time to start again, he thinks. Maybe. At least it’s worth a try if they’re going to have to be living with one another- at the very least until their dormitory accepts applications for room changes.

  
“Hello, I’m Charles Xavier, and I’m going to be your new room mate. I’m a bit of a neat freak and I’m dedicated to my work. I’m horrible at sleeping and eating correctly, and I’ve been told that no matter how quiet I try to be that I’m terribly loud. I have no intentions to start any sort of rivalry or competition, and hope that we can be acquaintances, if not friends.”

  
Erik just blinks at him, looking at his hand then back to his face before a slow smile has his mouth twitching up at the side.  
“Erik Lehnsherr. I’m fairly well kept, have a strict sleep schedule, and a terrible love affair with cheap beer and Red Bull. I’ve been told that I can’t whisper and that I’m a bit hot headed. I’d be more than willing to try and get along.”

  
A large, warm hand enveloped his own and a smile takes over his own face, though it’s a tentative one. This is a start at least.

 

 

…

 

 

He’s really expecting everything to be far more tense than it is, considering the fact that they spent the better part of 3 years “hating” one another. However, Erik seems to be the ideal room mate. He’s pretty organized, and doesn't leave out messes or spread over past his side of the room. They’re both quiet when they’re together, save for a few sporadic noises and small talk that may proceed from such noises. In all actuality, Charles finds that the tentative friendship that the two of them have forged from the rubble of their high school decisions was possibly one of the best that he had ever had- bar his relationship with Raven, and perhaps Hank on a different level.

  
It wasn’t until their first batch of finals at the end of first semester, cold weather encroaching upon the city like an evil omen. Charles was utterly exhausted, already running low from assignments, and an unfortunately timed cold. Erik, however, seemed unfairly unfazed by the whole thing. Working head on as he always did as though there were no extra load.

  
“How are you doing this?” He sniffled, pulling a soft blanket up close around his shoulders, the textbook on his lap resting closer to his face and chest.

  
Erik’s head twitches slightly to show that he’s heard what Charles has said, though he doesn't respond at all for a good five minutes.

  
“Doing what?” Erik inquires flatly, fingers still tapping away at the keyboard before him. His desk is covered in an array of handouts, notes, and a couple of books, a thermos of black coffee balancing precariously on the corner.

  
Charles risks a cold breeze to gesture widely to the room and the mess that has been made by both of their studying habits.

  
“This!” He ducks his head as he lets out a small cough, sniffling again. “It’s like you’re not taking any finals at all.”

  
Erik snorts and finally turns towards him, tossing over a box of tissues that Charles catches gratefully.

  
“I’m used to the pressure, or don’t you remember?”

  
He tries to blow his nose as gracefully as possible, though there’s really no use. He places the text book off to the side and shuffles over to throw the tissue away, pouring out a dose of cold medicine and downing it with a shiver, letting the words just settle over him. There’s a feeling churning in the pit of his stomach that he knows isn’t just an uneasy, sick, stomach.

  
“Did you-” He starts, then stops, leaning on his desk with his back towards the other. “Did you really do this all of high school, just to compete with me?”

  
There’s a snort.

  
“Not just for you, no. As much as you're terrible know-it-all, I also had a good amount of scholarships to try and hold onto. It’s not so different here either.”

  
Charles turns slightly, enough to see Erik slumped low in his chair and thinks about the boy he knew staying up this late every night just to make sure that he can stay in school. A new chill runs through him, something new and unsettling, bile rising to the back of his throat. Whether he had caused some of the stress and pain or not, it was too much to think of, too much to bear. What all...how much had happened behind the masks that they had both pulled on to show each other those years?  
He curled forward, shoulder pinching in on himself as he leaned back against the desk. He couldn’t help the tears stinging at the corners of his eyes.

  
“I’m sorry.” He says quietly. He doesn't know if Erik hears it, but he hopes that someday it will be enough.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

FRESHMAN YEAR: S2 - COLUMBIA

  
Charles had half expected Erik to ask for a new room mate by the second semester, but he’s pleasantly surprised to see familiar belongings re-adorning their room after winter break. He’s reminded, in a moment of quiet shock, of that saying about loving something. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” He chokes on air thinking of it.

  
After living in such close quarters with Erik for nearly 6 and a half months, being back at home without him left him missing certain aspects of the life that they’d been living. He would walk into his room, feet kicking out to push Erik’s chair up under his desk, only for his foot to continue moving through the air with no resistance. He would sit down in the living area and fall into a blood, then at a particularly enthralling part he would begin to read aloud and look up, expecting to see Erik there ready to discuss with him. Not everything was different, or empty, but it had taken coming back to the place which they shared together to see the Erik shaped hole which had been left in his life.

  
Charles lugged his bags in the door, one rolling behind him, the other a duffle rocking heavily into his side. The bed nearest the door is ruffled just enough that he can tell it’s been used, while his own has a visible sheen of dust which he brushes off before throwing his bag down, wrinkling his nose at the unsightly plume. It takes nearly no time to unpack, and he feels a distinct loss in how lonely he is just sitting in what he’d come to think of as “their place”.

  
In that time, the empty moments spent waiting for his room mate to get back, left him wondering if Erik had felt his absence just as keenly, if at all. However, the longer that he thought about that, the darker and stormier his mood became. Was Erik single, he wondered? What was Erik’s sexuality? In him? In...he’s thinking too much, with too much naivety, hope, interest…God…

  
He sits down on his bed, staring longingly at the one across from him. If Erik came back now, all he’d see was Charles staring longingly, forlornly, a love sick puppy just staring at his sheets. Dear Lord he’s turned into a terrible creep.

  
He stands up with enough force to shake his bed and ruffle his sheets, shaking himself both mentally and physically. He takes a quick shower and pulls on his most comfortable pair of flannel sweats and a t-shirt before curling up under his sheets, pressing his fingernails into the balls of his hands and at some point...he falls asleep.

 

…

 

 

Everything falls back into place within the week. Almost everything, considering the fact that he’s now discovered that he has feelings for his friend turned enemy turned friend again. Charles wonders about just how much force it would take to bludgeon himself with a pen or a pencil. He’s really just thankful that Erik hasn’t seemed to notice anything off, through the other has seemed to not be speaking quite as much as he was before, or perhaps that was just Charles overthinking things.

  
It’s still could out when the tides change. The heating unit in their dormitory had given out, so they’d taken to wearing jackets indoors and bundling up close to one another on the couch, sharing their one large wool blanket that Erik’s mother had apparently packed. Charles really tried not to think about it too hard. What sitting that close to Erik did to him. Sometimes the other would stretch out his arm, his hand falling over to Charles's other side, arm resting just above his shoulder and fingers brushing their bulky elbow of his coat. It was both comfortably warm, and uncomfortably intimate in a way that had caused him on multiple occasions to nearly just lean in an kiss the man. Little did he know, he wasn’t the only on the only one thinking that way.

  
Today they had been sitting on the couch nearly all day, from breakfast to nearly 7 o’clock, they hadn't moved from their warm half embrace. Charles had his laptop perched on his knees as he worked on a paper due the following Monday, whilst Erik seemed to go back and forth between working on a project and listening to the TV. He shifted a bit, unconsciously leaning further into Erik’s warmth as his mouth opened in a jaw cracking yawn. At about the same time Erik’s stomach grumbled, and they both paused before looking at one another.

  
“Time for dinner then, methinks.” He said lightly, grinning as he turned his full attention to Erik’s eyes...which were less than an inch away. His smile faltered but he fought to keep it up.

  
Charles’s anxiety began to skyrocket along with his pulse as the silence stretched on. Did he do something wrong? Say something wrong? Had something how through? Should he move away-

  
His inner panic was squashed in a moment as Erik’s lips firmly covered his own. Charles let out a tiny whine before absolutely melting, hands reaching up to grip tightly to the fabric at Erik’s shoulders as he held up his own in the rapidly heating kiss. He’s a more than just a little bit embarrassed when he makes another whining noise as Erik pulls away.

  
“Gott, I’ve wanted to do that since junior year.” Erik ground out, his voice slightly gravelly in a way that made Charles shiver.  
“You what?” He asked back, staring dumbly at the man across from him.

  
“I...Charles I’ve…”

  
Charles had never seen Erik so tongue tied, though the rosy blush that tinged his cheeks was a good look on him, just the sight feeling as though it was warming him from the inside. Erik takes in a big breath and lets it out in a heavy stream that Charles can feel just crushing the side of his cheek.

  
“I’ve had the biggest crush on you since...the beginning of high school. I...I was going to ask you out before-” He leans back slightly to make a wide gesture, “our whole rivalry thing started up.”

  
Charles blinked at him, once, twice, his usually mile a minute brain having a bit f trouble processing everything happening.

  
“You would have, if that hadn’t all happened?” He asks slowly.

  
“Absolutely.”

  
“But you didn’t because the rivalry started.” Charles, being as in tune with the other as he was, noticed the slight eye twitch that gave away Erik’s anxiety in the form of irritation.

  
“Yes.”

  
“You idiot.”

  
“I- excuse me?” Erik blurted back at him, eyes opening just slightly wider than normal as he moved to hunch back a bit.

  
“I’ve been harboring a terrible crush on you since we got back from break, though I’m unfortunately aware that I've been rather sensitive to your presence since freshman year. I would have said yes, most likely, if you had asked. I’ll, of course, say yes now, if you ask. I was afraid that you might have seen through my shawty cover ups of my feelings, but I suppose you were just trying to hide your own…”

  
He trails off, eyes braking their hard contact from the cool grey in front of him.

  
Warm fingers land on his cheek, pressing to pull his attention back.

  
“We’re both idiots.” Erik comments softly, a slight smile playing at the edges of his mouth. “Now, may I kiss you again and take you to dinner?”

  
An answering smile spreads across Charles’s face, and he leans in enough to tilt their foreheads together.

  
“Yes, and hell yes.” He answers with a little laugh, twisting his head and leaning in with enough vigor to have them tipping back in Erik’s direction, both of them going down with twin smiles pressed together.


End file.
